Denny Hamlin Tells Great Story About Michael Jordan And A Racing Simulator

michael jordan talks to denny hamlin nascar simulator story

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The stories about Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordan and his extreme competitiveness are the stuff of legend.

He simply has to win, regardless of the sport. Basketball, golf, fishing… racing?

With regard to that last sport, MJ’s co-owner at the NASCAR team 23XI Racing, Denny Hamlin, recently explored the subject on the latest episode of his podcast Actions Detrimental.

During the show, a listener asked Denny Hamlin if the GOAT would ever get into one of their race cars and take a few spins around the track. Michael Jordan does love him some fast cars, after all.

“Never again,” Hamlin said in response to the question. “He did it once, but it was the simulator at TRD. That content has not been released, nor will it probably ever be released because, good luck trying to get them to approve it. But he wanted to feel what we feel, and so Toyota set it up and our team set it up for him to get in the Toyota simulator. This was a couple years ago, I don’t think it was last year’s, though it was pretty recent.

“So I’m thinking… I said, ‘What kind of track do you want to be on?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t want Daytona it’s just hold her wide open, that’s too easy. Like, give me something, what’s the next step.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s go to Charlotte.’ I probably could have picked Las Vegas or something or Michigan, probably should have done that, but he didn’t last long.

“I mean, he did okay, he had a problem holding the car down on the bottom of the track. And then it was probably 15 minutes and he says, ‘I’m done.’ A) he was sweating profusely. It was very hot. They had to modify, you would not believe how they had to modify it like the back seat is out of the simulator so to fit his legs in the pedals. He put the helmet on and he’s just like, ‘Man, I just my eyes, I got so dizzy. Like I just started feeling queasy.’ So he had to quit.”

Hamlin was then asked if MJ had ever gone for a ride-along with him.

“Probably not. I don’t think so. Maybe. He wouldn’t trust me. He wouldn’t trust me to do it,” said the former NASCAR star. “No. Because he knows I’ve tried to scare him. If I get into a two-seater race car, and you are the passenger, the only fun and enjoyment I have is to see you [bleep] your pants. I’m gonna run right up against the wall. If I hit it, eh, that’s fine.

Hamlin continued, “Listen, I haven’t crashed a two-seater car, but I’ve, I mean, I try to run right up against the wall to give the people the feeling of like, ‘This is how close we can run and not hit it.’ I mean, that’s part of the skill set of what we bring to the table, so…”

Listen to the entire discussion beginning around the 46:25 mark…

Douglas Charles headshot avatar BroBible
Before settling down at BroBible, Douglas Charles, a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks), owned and operated a wide assortment of websites. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT.